


Neighboring Glances

by biancadiangeno



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, SUPPOSEDLY lmao, solangelo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4141599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biancadiangeno/pseuds/biancadiangeno
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will Solace has lived in the same old residence in all sixteen years encompassing his life, and not once did anyone move into that poor, lonely house across from his. So just imagine the big surprise he got when one summer day, he saw a dark green truck right in front of it—and imagine the even bigger surprise he got when he saw a dark haired boy in an even darker attire unloading a box from the said truck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neighboring Glances

**Author's Note:**

> From Tumblr drabble prompt #3: "Please, don't leave." requested by cherryandsisters

He was on his way home when he caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar dark green truck parked in front of the house just across from his. Normally, this would’ve been nothing short of the usual—people came and went to that empty house often; checking the place out, inspecting every nook and cranny, and considering whether or not they saw it fit enough for them to move into. Most of the time, they shook their heads and moved on, asking for a different house look at. I mean, who could blame them, really? That old house was a mess. No one’s lived there for nearly 20 years. Ever since he was born, that house had been empty; not a single soul was desperate enough to bother with it.

Except, well, that one dark haired boy unloading that one box from that one truck.

“Hey!” Will jogged up to him, a grin finding its way on his face. Finally, _finally_ , someone who could potentially lessen the boredom that summer was currently giving him. Sure, it was nice having no homework to do whenever he returned home, but it would’ve been a whole lot nicer if all his friends weren’t out there travelling the world or going to some special summer camp or something.

The struggle of having excessively rich friends, honestly.

“You must be our new neighbor! I’m Wi—”

“Go away.”

He gulped, but retained his composure. Okay, so he wasn’t all that friendly. That’s okay, he could work with that. At least he replied to him, right? “I’m Will Solace. Do you need some help with th—” His smile dropped when the guy simply brushed past him wordlessly, not even taking a second to glance at him in appreciation. He just walked right by, went inside the house, and slammed the door shut. Just like that.

What did he do wrong?

“It was nice to meet you too!”

————-

He stabbed the piece of sliced steak on his plate, smiling as he listened to his dad recount the story of his officemate’s infamous sleepwalking tendencies during their teambuilding outing. He’d heard the story almost a thousand times, but his dad liked retelling his so-called “Apollo’s epic tales” whenever he could.

Especially when they had guests joining them for dinner.

“And so, Hypnos was like, ‘wait, how’d I get here?’”

Even if it was his own story, Will’s dad still laughed the hardest, drowning out the polite chuckles emanating from the pale man seated opposite of him, and completely filling in for the silence offered by the all too familiar boy settled on the chair across from Will.

“I mean, can you believe that man? He couldn’t be woken up!”

“Oh, I can relate to that,” the pale man offered. “I’m a deep sleeper myself. Nico here,” he gestured to the boy next to him, “for a 16-year old boy, he wakes up at such an ungodly hour.”

Nico, Will found himself repeating in his head as watched him play with the carrots laying limply on his plate. So that was his name.

“Why most of the time, back in our hometown, he was the one who fetched the newspaper from our porch instead of me. I’m not exactly complaining.”

Both fathers chuckled at their little conversation, but Will found himself too lost in the idea forming in his head to engage in their little talk.

“Excuse me,” he said, getting up and heading up to his room upstairs.

“Will!” his dad called. “Where are you going?”

“Sorry dad, I just remembered I had to do something! It was nice meeting you guys!”

And before his father to further question him, he closed his bedroom door and grabbed his phone.

————-

He held out his hand and knocked exactly three times, smiling to himself as he internally rejoiced at his grand idea. He considered himself lucky for helping out Aunt Artemis with her Spring Cleaning that one time, or else he wouldn’t have had someone to help him talk to Hermes and convince him to offer Will his request.

His grin widened when the door finally opened, revealing a messy-haired Nico di Angelo standing right in front of him, looking unusually composed on such an early morning.

“Hey,” Will greeted.

“Go away,” came the reply. But just as Nico swung the door shut to slam it in his face, Will pushed forward and blocked it with his foot.

“No, wait!” He exclaimed. “I’m here to deliver your newspaper!” He flapped the rolled papers in front of him in what he could only hope didn’t look as desperate as he felt. “See?”

Rolling his eyes, Nico opened the door and let him give the newspaper comfortably. Will beamed at him. “So, do you have anything to do this—”

_SLAM!_

————-

Will Solace believed that he was many things. He was someone who always attempted to pacify nasty situations, someone who always looked for the best in everyone, someone who always tried choosing the decision where less people got hurt, and someone who was apparently voted Mr. Congeniality during Sophomore year; but he was  _not_  someone who would simply stop trying to be a person’s friend just because the said person kept brushing him off.

So come early morning the next day, he stood in front of the di Angelo household’s front door, rocking on the balls of his feet as he waited for it to open.

“Hey!” he greeted as Nico showed up. “Here’s your newspa…” he trailed off, eyes drifting to the outfit the olive-skinned boy was currently sporting. “Are you, um,” Will tried entangling the knot his tongue suddenly started forming, “going out today?”

“Just…gonna walk around. Check this place out or something.”

“I could tour you!” He offered enthusiastically. “I’ve been living here my whole life, I could show you around!”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you have newspapers to deliver?”

Will smiled. Were they having an actual decent conversation? “Nah. Your house is actually the last on the list. Since I’m the one delivering them, the route starts from my house, then goes to the next one, and the next one, and ends at your house. Saves me from the trouble of walking too much without delivering any newspapers to houses I already passed by. It’s pretty convenient, actually.”

Nico gave one small nod and proceeded to walk past him. Will leveled their footsteps together without missing a beat. “So, what do you wanna see first? I personally recommend this diner not too far from here. They have really good—Oh! Wait, I forgot to do something.”

He hurriedly rushed inside his house, went upstairs, set down his now empty bag of newspapers inside his room, and went back to meet Nico outside.

“Okay, as I was saying, that diner has some really good ice cream. One time, my friend ordered this huge sundae, and—”

“Go away.”

But this time, Will didn’t falter, or feel bad. Because the fact that Nico actually stood in front of his house and waited for him while he deposited his bag was enough for him to know that this boy didn’t want him to go away.

Well, not as badly as he makes it seem, at least.

————-

“And so he says, ‘with friends like these, who needs anemones?’” He burst out laughing at his own joke, hitting the table separating the two of them as he tried to compose himself.

Nico just stared indifferently at him, the sundaes temporarily forgotten.

“Why aren’t you laughing? It’s a good joke!”

“You stole that from Finding Nemo.”

“Doesn’t make it any less of a good joke, you sick humorless being.” Will scooped up some hot fudge and put it in his mouth. It’s been almost a month since their little tour, and they’d been hanging out ever since. He showed him the park where he once climbed up its playground’s tall jungle gym and stayed there for 3 hours because he couldn’t get himself down; he showed him his favorite café where he swore he once met a famous actor; he showed him the gym and sports center where tried (and failed) parkour; and of course, he showed him that “really good” diner he was talking about.

Which was where they were currently eating at now.

He took another giant scoop of his sundae.

“Hey, Will?”

“Hmm?” He looked up, spoon still in his mouth, and saw that Nico was looking down at his untouched ice cream, limply mixing the vanilla sundae and hot fudge together.

“I’m not…I’m not good at this.”

Will pulled the spoon from his mouth. “At what?”

“At this whole…‘friendship’ thing. I’ve never been good at making friends. So, uh, sorry if I, uh—”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Will said, and Nico glanced up at him. Nervousness suddenly started creeping up him as their eyes locked together, but Will managed to swallow the weird feeling and smile. “I’d like to think I’m good at it. I mean, I was voted Mr. Congeniality, remember?” Nico’s small laugh urged him to go on, and his grin widened. “So I can be friendly enough for the both of us, I think.”

Nico smiled back at him, and Will felt as though his stomach was flopping up and down his whole body. Before he knew what he was doing, his mouth opened and he uttered, “and…maybe more?”

Nico’s smile dropped. His eyes widened. The realization of what he said only hit Will when Nico told him he forgot he had to help his dad out with something and got up and left the diner hurriedly, leaving the blond boy’s chest feeling heavier and heavier with each passing second that he internalized the question he just asked.

He put his hands on his face and slumped on his seat, the delicious sundae in front of him long forgotten.

————-

The next day, he walked over in front of Nico’s house, newspaper in hand and apology ready to spill out of his lips. What had he had been thinking? Why did he even say that? It wasn’t like he liked Nico that way, did he? Yes. No. Maybe? It was all so confusing. All he knew was that he liked hanging out with him, and he liked talking to him, and he liked teasing him, and he liked laughing with him, and he just liked  _being_  with him—but where exactly did the line between platonic liking and  _like_  liking draw on?

The door opened before he could think of the answer, but before Nico could open his mouth and say something, Will beat him to it. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to—I was just—I didn’t know what I was saying, I—I mean, I like you, and I kinda sorta  _like_  like you and I—but I get it if you don’t like that, and I get it if you hate me—”

“I don’t hate you, Will.”

“—and I get it if you don’t want to be friends anymore and I…what? You don’t…hate me?”

“No.”

“So you…like me?”

A furious blush spread on Nico’s cheeks, and he looked away. “Um, no, I mean…”

“Oh.” Will felt like he was just punched in the gut.

“What I mean is…I don’t…I don’t mind it when you hang out with me every day, and I don’t mind it when you keep talking to me even when I keep silent, and I don’t mind it when you keep teasing me, and I don’t mind it when you make me laugh at things that aren’t even remotely funny, and—and I don’t mind it when you’re just being here with me, even when we just stay in some place and talk. But…I don’t hate you, Will. So, um,” he stretched his hand out, “friends?”

Will stared at his hand, the horrible feeling of being rejected still swimming in his stomach.  _But hey_ , he thought to himself.  _At least he doesn’t hate me, right?_

He smiled and hugged Nico.

“Best friends, you sick humorless being.”

————-

Their summer went on the same way it started after that, with Will and Nico constantly pestering each other for days on end. They competed against each other in the arcade, raced one another to the playground, and even made bets on who could get away with making as much noise as he can in the library.

In all sixteen years of his life, Will swore it was the best summer he’d ever had, and it was all thanks to that stubborn boy with the messy dark hair who kept making his stomach grow a butterfly farm whenever he so much as looked at him.

Unfortunately however, his perfect and wonderful summer soon came to a staggering halt when his dad told him the news.

“Will.”

He snapped back to reality, glancing at a pair of familiar dark eyes that were looking at him curiously. Instantly, his felt his heart rise up to his throat.

God, he had it bad, didn’t he?

“Yeah?”

“You’ve been staring at nothing ever since we got out from that cinema.”

“Yeah, it’s just that I’m…” he trailed off, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before facing Nico once more. “Nico, there’s something I got to tell you.”

When Nico didn’t say anything, he continued. “I’m leaving.”

The silence stretched on for a while before Nico replied, “What?”

Will scratched the back of his head, his eyes looking everywhere but back at those dark brown irises. They’d been hanging out in his room that afternoon, and he found it morbidly ironic how they were talking about his departure in his own house.

“My dad just heard from this company he’s been trying to get in to since forever, and they, you know, finally accepted him and all that. He starts the day after tomorrow. But it’s far away, and, it well, it would be really hard for him if we stayed here…”

Nico didn’t say anything, which didn’t really come off as much of a surprise. But given the information Will just told him, he kind of expected something more of a reaction. An “oh”. Tears. Maybe even a couple shouts of protest. But none of those came.

Instead, Nico simply got up and left, without a word, without a reply, without even a  _glance_  at him. He…left. Just like that.

And with a heavy heart, Will leaned back on his bed’s headrest and closed his misty eyes.

————-

Nico didn’t show up the next day. Will delivered the newspaper to their house, but this time, it was Hades who got the roll from him. When he asked where Nico was, Hades told him he went out on his own, and Will tried his best to give a curt little nod and a polite smile. “I see.”

“He’ll probably be back in the afternoon,” Hades offered. And Will thanked him before walking back to his house.

When two o’clock rolled around and Nico still hadn’t went back to his house, Will started getting worried. The rain pouring down outside did nothing to help his situation. Where could that boy be? Was he stranded somewhere? Did he need his help? No, of course not. Nico could handle himself well enough. But still. He needed to talk to him. He needed to tell him—

The sound of his doorbell ringing sliced through his train of thought, and Will got up from the living room couch and opened the door.

When he saw him, he gasped. “Nico! What’re you—”

“I think I’m in love with you,” the brunet blurted out, hair dripping wet, clothes sticking to his skin, and cheeks burning red from either exhaustion or bashfulness. Possibly both.

In Will’s case however, he was quite certain it was one of the latter.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Nico repeated, his shoulders rising up and down as he huffed out his words, “I think I’m in love with you and I don’t—I don’t really know how to deal with that yet so…don’t leave. Please. Please, don’t leave.”

Will blinked, his mind still revving and processing what was happening before his very eyes. Was Nico really there? Did he really just…say that?

“Don’t go,” Nico exhaled, still catching his breath. “Please.”

“I won’t,” Will told him, the joy and happiness seeping back in him as his mouth stretched up in a smile.

“You…you won’t?” Nico asked, eyes wide and hopeful, and Will nodded.

“I asked my dad if I could stay with Aunt Artemis while he went away. Auntie didn’t have a problem with it, and he trusts her a lot, so…”

“So…you’re not leaving?”

He smiled even wider. “Nope.”

It came as a pleasant surprise when Nico suddenly leaned in and hugged him, a huge grin present on his damp face, and Will let out a laugh. “Besides,” he said as Nico pulled back, “I can’t leave yet. I still have to confess my love to someone, too.”

Nico rolled his eyes, the smile still stuck on his thin lips. “Perfect. Because I’m not good at this romance thing.”

Will chuckled, touching their foreheads together, feeling as though a huge weight has been lifted from his entire being. “That’s okay. I can be romantic enough for the two of us.”

And with that, he leaned down and finally,  _finally_  kissed him, muttering as he pulled back,

“Plus you still owe me ten bucks for that movie yesterday.”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me at kiohne.tumblr.com if you guys want to request anything!


End file.
